Method of making electric motors



Nov. 21,1950 J. L. MOODY 2,530,533

METHOD OF MAKING ELECTRIC uo'roxs Original Filed July 15, 1944 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN, 7 DR \/0IIN. M

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A ZTORNEY Nov. 21, 1950 J. L. MOODY 2,530,533

METHOD OF MAKING ELECTRIC MOTORS Original Filed July 15, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q $1 Q um 1h l H I G -J a2. 34- i? MENTOR $1091 1 QTTOHNEY Nov. 21, '1950 J. 1. MOODY us'mon OF MAKING ELECTRIG MOTORS Origirial Filed July 15, 1944 3 Sheets-Shem. 3

FIIEI 4 MENTOR L/O/l [.Moooy FIE'I Ei k (ATTORNEY .ented Nov. 21, 1950 METHOD OF MAKING ELECTRIC MOTORS John L. Moody, Oakland, Calif., assignor to Friden Calculating Machine Co. Inc., a corporation of California Original application July 15, 1944, Serial No.

545,040. Divided and this application November 5, 1945, Serial No. 626,825

2 Claims. 1

The invention will be disclosed as embodied in the construction of a frame and bearing support means for a fractional horsepower motor. although it will be evident that features of the invention have wider application. This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 545,040, filed July 15, 1944.

One of the principal problems in the manufacture of a motor is to construct the parts of the supporting framework so that when the arts are assembled the bearings for the armature shaft will be in alignment, and so that the armature when supported in those bearings will be disposed coaxially within the aperture of the field lamination assembly. With heretofore-employed motor-frame designs and methods of manufacture, the air gap between the armature and the field had to be made undesirably large from a motor performance standpoint in order to allow for the variations in the air gap of different motors produced--these variations being inherent in the design and method of manufacture.

The object of my invention is to provide a construction and method of manufacture which overcomes these difficulties and enables the air gap to be reduced in production motors, thereby increasing their efficiency and torque.

The usual practice is to construct the motor framework of castings. Castings are in themselves expensive and, furthermore, require extensive and accurat machining operations such as boring the bearing holes, counterboring surfaces for locating the field lamination assembly in position, and machining the castings to enable them to be accurately fitted together. In spite of the elaborate efforts which are made to construct these cast frames accurately, nevertheless, when they are assembled the bearings for the armature have to be line-reamed because the frame parts cannot be manufactured with suflicient accuracy to have the bearings in alignment when the parts are assembled.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical, longitudinal section through a motor.

Fig. 1A is a detail view of a bearing.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the motor.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the motor.

Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section thereof.

Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the dowel rods.

The frame comprises two end shields l0, ll (Fig. 1) which are rigidly connected together in spaced apart relationship by means of four identical dowel rods l2, preferably turned in a screw machine (Figs. 1, 2 and 4).

Since the end shields are identical, only one need be described in detail. The end shield I0 is a single piece formed from sheet metal. As shown in the end view (Fig. 4), the body of the shield is substantially rectangular in shape with a horizontally extending flange I3 at the upper edge and a horizontally extending flange I4 at the lower edge. As shown in Fig. 2 the lower flange I I has two projecting feet l5 which, as shown in Fig. 1, are preferably disposed in a lower plane than the flange H. The central portion [6 of the body is disposed in a plane parallel to and spaced apart from the plane of the body proper. In the center of the portion I6 is a bearing hole I1. Four dowel rod holes l8 are provided in the four corners of the shield, and

two holes are provided in each foot l5. These holes are all punched simultaneously by a special machine tool so that the center to center distance I of the hole is accurately determined and is the same in all plates punched with the tool.

The bearing 20 consists of a sleeve or bearing proper 2| which is pressed in a bearing housing 22. The bearing housing has a single flange 23, the face 24 of which is relieved as shown in Fig.

' 1. The bearing 20 is assembled in the plate w by pressing and force-fitting its housing 22 into the hole l'I.

As previously explained, the end shield H is identical with the end shield l0 and, to insure exact duplication, the two shields preferably have thei holes punched by the same tool and are formed in the same die. The bearing 25 is identical to the bearing 20 and is assembled in the end shield l I in the same manner.

The dowel rods l2 which secure the end shields together to provide a substantially rigid frame structure also serve to locate the bearing hole H in the end shield l0 in alignment with the bearing hole 26 in the end shield ll. One of the dowel rods i2 is shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 6, where it will be noted that it has reduced ends 21 which are adapted to fit into the holes la in the end shields. This dowel construction insures alignment of the bearing holes. In order to locate the end shields parallel, each of the dowel rods l2 has a shoulder 28 which is brought into engagement with the face 29 of the end shield l0 and has a shoulder 30 which is brought into engagement with the face 3! of the end shield II.

threaded into the other end of the rod I2 bears against the face 35 of the end shield II.

The stator is a field lamination assembly 40 which comprises a plurality of plates riveted together, the form of the plate being shown in Fig. where it will be seen that poles M, 42 are provided, together with suitable apertures for coils 43, M. The dowel rods l2 pass through holes in the field lamination assembly M and serve to support the field assembly, so that the poles ll, 42 are concentric with the bearing holes and the rotor or armature 50. In order to support the field lamination assembly in the correct position axially of the motor, each of the dowel rods l2 has a shoulder 5| (Figs. 3 and 6) against which the assembly 4'0 fits. In order to allow for variations in the overall thickness of the field lamination assembly at the four corners, I provide on each of the dowel rods I2 a spring 52 which bears at one end against the face 3| of the end shield H and at the other end against the field lamination assembly 40. The springs 52 hold the assembly 40 against the shoulders 5! on the dowel rods l2.

After the motor has been assembled as shown, I have found that if the armature 50 does not turn easily in its bearings that the bearings can be tilted and aligned to free the armature for rotation by applying a sudden, i. e, shock, force to the armature transversely of its axis. This can readily be done by holding the motor in the hand and hitting the field lamination assembly a blow with a soft striker, such as a hammer.

I will now point out the advantages in my construction. Heretofore in constructing motors. it has been necessary to assemble the motor without the armature and the line ream the bearings. The only way in which the armature bearings could be accurately aligned was by actually machining the bearings after they were in place. In other words each motor had to have its bearings individually reamed to fit. This was due to the fact that it was practically impossible to construct the frame so that the bearings would be accurately enough aligned to permit proper rotation of the armature. It will be evident that with my construction a great saving of time and expense results. No line reaming is necessary. The motor is completely assembled and, as pointed out, if the armature does not turn freely due to misalignment of the bearings, merely striking the motor a blow will automatically cause the hearings to come into alignment.

There are certain factors which I believe contribute to this result and these I shall now point out.

The drawings are an accurate reproduction of a design which has been successfully employed in production where the thickness of the end shield is 0.078" and the diameter of the bearing hole I! is 0.562". The end shield l0 and the bearing housing 22 are made of steel. The bearing is made of suflicient length to provide adequate bearing surface for the armature shaft. However, it will be noted that the length of the hearing exceeds the thickness of the plate in which it is supported. The thickness of the plate in contact with the bearing housing should not exceed half the length of the housing or the bearing cannot be subsequently adjusted in the above manner.

Another relationship which I think is important is the ratio between the thickness of the plate and the diameter of the hole. The thickness of the metal at the bearing hole should not exceed one-half the diameter of the hole.

In the design shown. bearing housing 22 has a press fit in the hole I! of the end shield. This is a Class 6 fit as defined by the American Standards Association. This is a fit which is used where parts are to be more or less permanently assembled and light pressure is required in the assembly operation. In general, the diameter of the hole in the frame part should not exceed the diameter of the bearing, the lower limit being the case where the diameters are equal, the upper limit depending upon the strength properties of the metal used.

All of the above factors will vary somewhat with the kind of metal employed, depending especially on the modulus of elasticity and the elastic limit under compression.

I believe another important factor is that the bearing be restricted against axial movement in the frame piece in one direction only. There is only one flange on the bearing housing 22, namely the fiange 23, and this flange is preferaby relieved as shown at 24 so that the point of contact between the flange and the face of the plate is located as close to the center line of the bearing as possible. I prefer to provide an extrusion 53 (Fig. 1A) in the end shield [0, which fits into a notch 54 in the flange 23. The purpose of this construction is to prevent rotation of the bearing housing 22 in the event that the armature shaft freezes in the bearing.

It is quite possible that in applying force to the armature transversely of its axis to bring the bearings into alignment that compression of the metal in the end shield l0 and/or in the bearing housing 22 occurs, and for this reason I do not recommend the use of extremely hard metals or heavy force fits.

While I have disclosed a bearing supporting means as embodied in a motor frame, it will be apparent that it may be used wherever it is necessary to provide a bearing for a shaft or the like in a part of a framework and particularly where it is necessary to provide more than one bearing for the shaft and to have these bearings in axial alignment.

The advantages of the frame construction which I have disclosed are that it permits making the end shields exact duplicates by punching the holes with the same tool and forming the shields in the same die. This, plus the use of dowel rods which fit into the holes, insures not only that the bearing holes will be assembled in alignment but that the field lamination'assembly which is supported on these rods, will be located with its poles concentric with the axis of the armature. This latter is a distinct advantage in that it permits lower manufacturing tolerances in the air gap between the armature and the poles than was heretofore possible, and this reduction in the air gap results in obtaining increased torque from the motor.

I claim:

1. A method of manufacturing a substantially rigid frame for a motor or the like, and assembling the frame with other motor parts, which consists in punching a bearing hole and a plurality of dowel holes in two pieces of sheet metal, employing the same tool for punching both pieces, forming said pieces into identical end frames by the same die, pressing bearings into the bearing holes, turning a plurality of identical dowel rods in a screw machine with dowel ends to fit said dowel holes and shoulders adjacent said dowel a,sso,sss

5 1 ends for engaging said end frames, assembling the parts with the armature supported in said bearings and the dowel ends of said rods in the dowel holes in said end frames to provide a substantially rigid frame structure, and applying force to said armature transversely of its axis to cause alignment of said bearings if they are out of alignment.

2. A method of manufacturing a substantially rigid frame for a motor or the like, and assembling the frame with, other motor parts, which consists in punching a bearing hole and a plurality of dowel holes in two pieces of sheet metal, employing the same tool for punching both pieces, forming said pieces into identical end frames by the same die, pressing bearings into the bearing holes, turning a plurality of identical dowel rods in a screw machine with dowel ends to fit said dowel holes and shoulders adjacent said dowel ends for engaging said end frames, assembling the parts with the armature supported in said bearings and the dowel ends of said rods in the dowel holes in said end frames to provide a substa'ntially rigid frame structure, and applying force to said armature transversely of its axis by hittting the assembly with a soft striker to correct any misalignment of said bearings.

JOHN L. MOODY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

